Roundabout debate-whos in the correct lane?

Roundabout these days are "spiralled" which means your lane gradually moves out as you get towards your exit. You should stay in that lane and just follow it around and it should ideally pop you out at the right exit. I agree looks like the blue car got it.

However some roundabouts still manage to cause confusion and you should watch out for people making last minute dashes.

I think that’s it.

Good driving isn’t just about following the road markings. It’s about paying attention to what’s going on around you and responding to that as well.

ok so you were in the correct lane but I believe your dh’s point isn’t that you were in the wrong lane it is that you were powering past the pink car on the inside and therefore not providing space to allow them to potentially move over. Safe defensive driving practice would be to anticipate a potential lane change and hang back especially as they entered the roundabout first. This is what I would have done.

It looks to be near Thorn/Houghton Regis, where the A5 does a right turn and the A505 comes into the same roundabout.

Looking at street view, blue car was correct!

Definitely blue now you’ve shown the photo

Blue is I think correct but it depends what the arrows on the road on approach to the roundabout say. If pink had to cross a lane marking to exit then they should indicate and only cross the line if it’s safe. On larger roundabouts like this usually the lane markings naturally guide you round the roundabout

Blue is correct as per the road makings.

I do agree with pp saying that as pink entered the roundabout in front from the same starting lane, blue should ideally have still been far enough back that pink had the space to correct their mistake though.

It is even clearer that blue is correct from the satellite image. The road markings just before the exit you took make it completely clear that to take the exit you need to be in the left lane.

The roundabout markings are very clear - the first exit is almost a right angle so cars in the left lane are off the roundabout before they've even started. That leaves two lanes which then become the left lane and the right lane (there is no real third lane at this point as it has been hatched out by white lines).

So anyone in the middle lane on approach is now in the left lane almost immediately because the first exit is so sharp. That means they exit at the second exit, and as you pass the second exit the right lane now becomes the left lane, ready to exit at exit three. You literally follow the white lines and there is no need to change lane at going from the right lane on entry to the left lane at exit. It's just a spiral.

I am so glad people are saying blue car because I’ve recently started doing a journey with a similar roundabout except it’s 2 lanes going straight over then a third, inside, lane appears immediately after for heading towards an exit. I checked satellite view but it’s so new that the image is of the roadworks in progress not the finished road. I’ve been finding it a nightmare to negotiate and at first couldn’t decide where I should be. I settled on being in blue car position but there are some pink cars doing their thing and I approach it very watchfully every time, stressful.

The op says blue was behind.

From the photograph it's crystal clear that blue is correct to be in the left hand lane. There are chevrons blocking off the right. There isn't anywhere else to go. I'm trying to picture what pink must have done. Did they drive over the chevron bit? Or were they in front until after the second exit when they moved into the middle lane?? In which case why on earth would pink do that if they were coming off at the next exit??

Well from your diagram blue and pink are both in lane 3 entering the roundabout. You've drawn the dotted lines side by side but in reality one car should have been behind the other, so there shouldn't be any conflict at all between the pink and blue cars.

How did you end up side by side and were you behind or in front of the other car?

I’d go in the middle lane there, otherwise you are cutting across lanes - at lead, you would be in a normal roundabout. It’s an odd layout. I wonder if people get caught out and expect there to be two lanes going right, but there is only one?

BLUE. Without question.

Because of how the roundabout is angled (ie with 2 exits off to the left and one to the right, rather than left, straight on and right) regardless of the markings (which aren’t always visible) I would expect both centre and right hand lanes from where you started from to end up in the right hand exit. If the pink car was ahead of you going round then it does sound like you were trying to undercut it.

Just saw the satellite. Now I’d say blue.

Based on the diagram I say pink. I hate when people go into the left lane to come off when they’re in the right lane. It’s not how I was taught and makes absolutely no sense.

You're correct. The lane your husband would have used is for if you were going back the way you came - or going to that exit from one of the other roads.
Are you going to show him this? Will be believe you anyway?

Based purely upon your diagram - blue is correct

The blue car was correct but on an island like that should have been ready for any ar in the right lane to realise their error and try and turn off.

It does look like the sort of roundabout that frequent accidents because no one knows where they should be!

Blue is correct 💙

Pink was in front.

You were exactly right to do what you did, if you got into that left hand lane while passing that entrance on the left then you did it exactly right, the lane splits from 1 to 3, you chose the left which as the road marking show is the correct lane to exit top right.

BUT!

It's quite unusual IMO for islands to only have one lane that goes 'off' (rather than two that then merge into one), you have to be specifically in that left lane (that you were in), to exit, and it doesn't look like that would be obvious coming round the island as there's no writing on the road until you are in the wrong lane.

That's the reason you get cut up, people probably assume that they can exit from the centre lane as well as the left lane, then when they realise they can't they have to change lanes with very little time to do it.

If you came from behind the pink car entering the island and were passing them on the left they may not have seen you in their blind spot and that's why your husband was hanging on for dear life, he anticipated it.

If you do get in that left lane early, you need to make allowances for the lack of adequate signage and the fact that people are making a quick decision and not adequately checking before diving over.

You aren't wrong at all, but you aren't anticipating other road users carelessness enough, there's an island just like this near me, and I never undertake anyone going round the island knowing there is a single lane exit and they may be in the wrong lane for it, if they are slightly in front of me I hold back as I know I'd be in their blind spot.

Better now the map is there.

Pink was behind you and should have stayed behind you, the second set of arrows show what lane and what direction, pink should have stayed behind and followed, as there's no inside lane for them to follow

You are correct though. The pink car hasn’t followed the road markings around. It’s clear as day from the satellite.